Begin Again
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: "On a Wednesday/In a cafe/I watched it begin again..." Spitfire in college AU. Artemis goes on a first date with Wally after a bad break up. Based on the Taylor Swift song.


_A/N: Something else to tide you over while you wait for The Graysons. (Cue evil laughter.)_

_This is set in a college AU. No powers, no team, nada._

_It is based on the Taylor Swift song of the same name. Even though I didn't actually use any of her lyrics, I think I'll be safe and say that I don't own them. I also don't own Artemis, Wally, or any other character you might recognize._

_With that said, please enjoy!_

Begin Again

Artemis Crock took one final look at her reflection. She still had no idea why she was doing this. She certainly wasn't a charity case. So maybe it had been awhile since she'd gone out, but what did that matter? Cameron had turned out to be another jerk in an endless string of jerks. After that, Artemis had decided to swear off of guys for awhile.

So why had she let Zatanna talk her into this? It was true that the other girl could be very persistent, especially when her boyfriend, Dick Grayson, joined in. Artemis had imagined that Dick had pressured his best friend, Wally West, into taking Artemis out for coffee at a café often frequented by university students. After the blonde girl exerted some pressure on Zatanna, she had admitted that Wally had asked her and Dick to help him get Artemis to go out with him. This was intriguing, and it was what made Artemis agree.

Artemis had met Wally on several occasions. He was annoying and rude and clearly thought he was a lot funnier than he really was. The redhead always had an insult for her on the tip of his tongue whenever they encountered each other. Artemis had come to accept that they'd always be antagonistic towards each other, so _why_ had he wanted to take her on a date? And more importantly, _why_ had she agreed?

She looked down at her boots. They were pretty basic, just black leather, and the heels were pretty tall at close to three inches. Artemis remembered with a scowl that Cameron had always hated it when she wore shoes that gave her any extra height.

From what Artemis remembered, Wally was a few inches taller than she was and probably wouldn't bother to look at her shoes. And if he did…well, it wasn't like this had been her idea. She wasn't exactly falling all over herself to go out with him anyway.

The door to her room opened. Artemis turned to see Zatanna standing in the doorway with an expectant look on her face. Artemis guessed that the other girl wanted to give her fashion advice. She scowled again and pulled her green coat around herself tighter. If she had to do this, it was going to be on her terms. It was bad enough that Zatanna apparently thought she had to set Artemis up on dates with her boyfriend's friends. The blonde girl was _not_ about to let Zatanna dress her for the aforementioned date.

"Your face is going to freeze that way!" Zatanna called in a singsong voice as Artemis brushed past her roommate.

She was lucky and found parking at the end of the block the café was located on. Artemis thought of contingency plans as she crunched through the snow towards the coffee shop. It had occurred to her that Wally might be attempting to play some sort of prank on her. It certainly seemed like the kind of stunt he would pull. She decided she would give West ten minutes to show up. If he hadn't come by then, she'd go over to the off-campus apartment he shared with Dick and another guy named Conner Kent. It had been awhile since Artemis had had the chance to let off some steam. Wally and his stupid red hair and freckles would be a perfect target if he dared stand her up.

She pushed open the door to the coffee shop. She was immediately grateful for the warmth. As Artemis looked around, she shrugged off her jacket and unwound the scarf from her neck. The place was crowded and her gray eyes were just beginning to narrow at the noticeable lack of red hair when the blonde girl heard her name.

"Artemis! Over here!"

Artemis turned toward where the voice had come from. Sure enough, there was Wally. He'd been hidden behind a chalkboard advertising the café's specials. The redhead had nabbed the good table in the corner and was standing next to it, waving at her. He had clearly been awhile already if the cup clutched in one hand and the fact that his coat was already hanging on the back of his chair were anything to go by.

The blonde girl picked a path through the crowded space to where her date was waiting. As she drew closer, Wally put his coffee down and pulled out the other chair for her. Artemis had to admit that this display of manners was certainly impressive. She had never dated a boy who pulled her chair out for her. It was nice.

"I'm glad you came," Wally told her as he sat down in his own seat. "I, um, wasn't sure that you would."

She was taken aback. It may have just been Artemis' imagination, but he almost sounded nervous. Being nervous about a date was not exactly the type of behavior Artemis would have pegged him for. Maybe this wasn't a joke. She realized with a start that she was glad she had come too, especially since she hadn't been stood up like she'd expected to be. "I am, too."

A waitress appeared to take her order and Artemis chose her usual plain black coffee.

It occurred to her that she had no idea what to talk to Wally about. They had never exactly had a pleasant conversation before. Just as the silence was starting to reach awkwardness, the blonde girl decided to ask the first question that came to mind. "Why did you want to go out with me?"

A grin stretched across the redhead's face. "Why did you agree?"

The waitress came back with Artemis's coffee. She picked it up and took a small sip. Then she looked back at Wally. He was still looking like he expected an answer. Artemis was amused by the fact that he'd answered her question with one of his own. "I asked you first."

Wally tilted his head back and laughed. When he was done, a thoughtful expression came over his features. "I guess," he said slowly, "I wanted to go out with you because ever since we met, I haven't been able to get you out of my head. I keep thinking about how you would react to things, or what you might say whenever I do something dumb. I know we've never gotten along, but I think that's part of the appeal. You're a challenge."

Artemis found herself being surprised again. First of all, Wally had laughed at something she'd said. It was strange to have a guy laugh at something she'd said at all. Cameron had never understood her sense of humor.

But it wasn't fair to compare Wally to Cameron, Artemis reminded herself. Wally was nothing like her ex-boyfriend. Wally wasn't like _any_ of her ex-boyfriends.

She nodded in response to his confession. Then he smirked at her, a twinkle in his green eyes. He leaned across the table towards her. "So," Wally said, "why did you agree?"

"So I could keep challenging you, of course," Artemis replied. The redhead laughed again.

They ended up talking for hours. Artemis learned everything she could possibly want to know about Wally. He was from Central City and had a good relationship with his family. He was especially close to his aunt and uncle. He was at school on a track and field scholarship. Apparently, Wally could run like the wind. Unlike Artemis, Wally was not a serial dater. He told her he preferred to go out with girls he could envision having an actual relationship with. Artemis wondered what he thought this meant for the two of them. The redhead confessed to having had only one serious girlfriend, a girl named Linda. Wally was, in all honesty, a completely open book.

When it was her turn, Artemis hesitated. It was in her nature to be guarded, to keep her life private and secret. It had taken years for her to feel comfortable telling Zatanna everything, and Zatanna was her best friend in the world. She was sure she'd never told anyone as much about her life in one sitting as Wally had just told her.

But as Artemis's gray gaze locked on the boy sitting across from her, she realized she couldn't _not_ tell him. He was looking at her earnestly, as if he was just waiting for Artemis to trust him with all of her secrets. She couldn't help but think that she might _want_ to confide in him. While Wally had previously only acted obnoxiously towards her, today he had shown another side of himself. He'd been brutally honest; he'd told her everything.

And, stupid as it was to feel this way, Artemis really liked this never-before-seen side of his personality. If there was anyone she could learn to trust, it might just be Wally West.

So Artemis told Wally all about how her dad had walked out when she was a kid. She told him how her mom had struggled to make ends meet and how her sister had left not too long after her dad. It was a pretty messed up story when she thought about it too much, so she tried to avoid telling it.

Wally was looking at her sadly, like he felt badly for her. This was the reason she _hated_ letting people get close. Artemis couldn't stand to be pitied. She quickly added, "But I got out of there. I got a scholarship to Gotham Academy. That's where I met Zatanna and Dick. With a little help from him, I got an internship at the Gotham branch of Queen Industries. I somehow impressed Oliver Queen himself and he took me under his wing. He helped me get into school."

Wally nodded and Artemis felt a lot better about her need to defend herself. Then Wally thankfully changed the subject to stupid things he and Dick had done as kids, which was a much more enjoyable topic.

As Wally talked, it occurred to Artemis that Cameron had been there for all of the bad parts of her life, but never for any of the good. It wasn't like he really deserved to be there for the good, though.

But the red haired, science-loving, slightly geeky boy sitting across from her just might.

He was different. While she had initially pegged him as obnoxious and rude, he wasn't really so bad. He was a boy who liked her and hadn't known how to approach her without some help from their mutual friends. With anyone else, this probably would have been a warning sign or a turn off, but Artemis thought she could make an exception for Wally. If she was going to be honest with herself (and she always tried to be) Wally had been occupying her thoughts just as much as he claimed she occupied his. For months, she'd secretly enjoyed their verbal sparring matches and had looked forward to times she knew she'd see him. And it wasn't like _she'd_done anything about it.

The same waitress who had taken Artemis's order came by to tell them the café was closing. The couple stood and bundled up in their coats and scarves. Wally held the door for her as they made their way outside.

Artemis was ready to tell him how different he was from Cameron and how refreshing it was to go out with a guy who was capable of being polite and treating her well. But then the blonde girl noticed the wistful expression on Wally's face as he took in the falling snow. "Something wrong?"

"It's stupid," he said, "but snow reminds me of Christmas. My family always watches Christmas movies when it snows. I just kind of miss home when I see it."

"I don't think that's stupid," Artemis said, surprising herself. "It sounds nice."

Eventually, they reached the place where Artemis' car was parked. Wally gave her a shy smile before leaning down to place a kiss on her cheek. Artemis turned her face so that he got her lips instead.

The redhead looked mildly shocked when he pulled away. "I would like to do this again some time," the blonde girl informed him matter of factly.

"Definitely," Wally said with a grin. "I'll call you tomorrow," he promised.

Artemis got into the car and turned on the heater. While she waited for the car to warm up, she watched Wally walk away. The older boy still looked like he had won some kind of wonderful prize. She smiled to herself. She was glad she'd given Wally a chance.

She really did hope things would work out this time around, though, because she was never going to hear the end of it from Zatanna.


End file.
